Telling lies: the irrepressible truth?

Williams, Emma Joanne, Bott, Lewis ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4926-1231, Patrick, John and Lewis, Michael Bevan ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5735-5318 2013. Telling lies: the irrepressible truth? Plos One 8 (4) , e60713. 10.1371/journal.pone.0060713

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Abstract

Telling a lie takes longer than telling the truth but precisely why remains uncertain. We investigated two processes suggested to increase response times, namely the decision to lie and the construction of a lie response. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants were directed or chose whether to lie or tell the truth. A colored square was presented and participants had to name either the true color of the square or lie about it by claiming it was a different color. In both experiments we found that there was a greater difference between lying and telling the truth when participants were directed to lie compared to when they chose to lie. In Experiments 3 and 4, we compared response times when participants had only one possible lie option to a choice of two or three possible options. There was a greater lying latency effect when questions involved more than one possible lie response. Experiment 5 examined response choice mechanisms through the manipulation of lie plausibility. Overall, results demonstrate several distinct mechanisms that contribute to additional processing requirements when individuals tell a lie.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
ISSN:	1932-6203
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 19:22
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/45996

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